Bharat Biotech vaccine trial results out soon

The company recently announced that it had started phase 3 trials for its vaccine candidate which is India’s first vaccine candidate against Covid-19.

Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine Covaxin’s phase 2 trial results are ready to be out, according to government officials familiar with the development .

For the Phase 2 trial, Bharat Biotech had recruited 400 participants, and for its phase 1 trial 375 participants were recruited. (Reuters)

“We are expecting the phase 2 results of Covaxin to be made available any time now,” said a senior government official, requesting not to be identified. The company recently announced that it had started phase 3 trials for its vaccine candidate which is India’s first vaccine candidate against Covid-19.

VK Paul, member (Health), Niti Aayog, who also chairs the national vaccine administration committee, in a briefing on Covid-19 situation on Tuesday had also said that they were expecting the phase 2 results soon. “For the Bharat Biotech-ICMR vaccine candidate, Covaxin, has also progressed, and phase 3 has started. The results of their phase 2 trials are expected anytime now,” Dr Paul had said.

For the Phase 2 trial, Bharat Biotech had recruited 400 participants, and for its phase 1 trial 375 participants were recruited.

The vaccine candidate seems to have been largely safe, and significantly triggered body’s immune response needed to fight off the infection, according to the officials.

Covaxin has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus was isolated in an ICMR lab.

The company is looking at a production capacity of about 150 million doses annually.

Five vaccines against Covid-19 are at various stages of human trials in the country, of which two candidates are currently undergoing the advanced phase 3 trials.

Apart from Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India is conducting the phase 3 trial with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate.

Cadila’s vaccine candidate, ZyCovD, has also completed the phase 2 trial, and is awaiting results even as the follow up period is nearing its end.

The sputnik V Russian vaccine phase 2/3 trial, for which India’s Dr Reddy’s labs has tied up with the Russian vaccine developers and is moving ahead in collaboration, is going to start next week. Also, Biological E vaccine candidate will also start early phase1/2 trials soon.